Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger

Fun, conversations, and occasional journalism from Reno, Nevada


Post of the Month: July 2008: Fixie dorks and fashion statements

This month saw some interesting things happen on this site and off. But since this is the Post of the Month post, you’ll get the online activites. If you’d like to know the behind the scenes, feel free to subscribe to the newsletter.

Let’s start with the runners-up.

First, what month could be complete without a story on Terri Patraw? It seems like none of them, at this point. So, Another Terri Patraw Update has to make the list. I’m ashamed that I took down the posts. I’m ashamed that she and her slimy lawyer, through their extortion tactics, got over on me. I’m also disappointed that she continues to get coverage in the local fishwrap, but there is not even a look into her tactics to attempt to keep her reputation intact. What she did should have gotten more attention. And what she did, had it received the attention it deserved, would have served to sway some public opinion against her. Because what she did is who she is, and what she is got her ass fired from a job for being who she is. I suppose it’s just the way things are. Someone like her does bad things that go unnoticed and people still pat her on the back for being courageous. Unless, of course, she the only one patting her back, which I suspect.

The other runner up just snuck in under the deadline. It’s the post about The RGJ’s sports blogging story. By the time you read this, the story itself will likely be pushed behind a firewall where, seriously, like zero people will ever see it again (really, how many subscribers could they possibly have?). I said most everything I wanted to say in that post, but interestingly, it was picked up by Around Carson, and Scott Schrantz had a very valid point to make. He basically said the story was a hack job on blogs. I hadn’t seen it that way, but I usually tend to be very forgiving when I have personal contact with the reporter on these things. I was reminded when I read his post that Christy had basically said the same things, so maybe there is something to it. Maybe I was too close to this one! Unfortunately, it’s another bad mark for the RGJ, which is moving in a direction that should embarrass any of their web-savvy employees to no end. The movement to put everything into their own very crappy system will fail. Their refusal to acknowledge the rest of the internet is a shortsighted joke (they did a story on bloggers and didn’t link to a single blogger they covered). Being the only real game in town is a nice luxury, but this kind of stuff won’t last forever.

Finally, the winner: It would be awesome if all these guys riding around on bikes as a fashion statement learned a rule or two. This post began after, in two days, witnessing two completely bullshit moves by bikers. The first was a guy in the girl pants, wearing a stupid flip-up hat, crossing McCarran at Kietzke, during rush hour to jump into the left-turn lane while traffic was moving. Te second was a woman riding in a dress with no helmet because her hair was all nice on a painted up cruiser bike cross against red and make cars slow down for her at California and Arlington so she could get to the Chocolate Bar. As I started writing, I was reminded of the guys who ride indignantly against traffic on one-way streets (Forest). A two-lane one way street is meant to be a thoroughfare of sorts, so the neighborhood cruising excuse doesn’t work. With the post I wanted to point out that I respect the efforts of people who are trying to make biking a more ingrained part of our transportation culture. There also needs to be an understanding that the rules of the road should be to keep everyone out of danger—not just yourself. Anytime you are doing something unexpected, you put everyone around you in danger. So it would be helpful if the bike advocates made it a point to reiterate that riding goes along with cars and nobody wants anyone to get hurt. That kind of action can only serve to better the relationship between the two modes of transportation.


tags: biking, fixies, nevada, newsletter, post of the month, reno, reno gazette journal, rgj, sports blogging, terri patraw, traffic laws, unr
posted by Ryan Jerz on 08/07/2008

Comments

The Anon Guy, Aug 9, 06:50 PM #:

Cory Farley had a good column on bicyclists (http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=699892). He developed the theory that the fancier the bike clothes the bigger jerk you were on the road.

The Anon Guy, Aug 11, 04:46 PM #:

I really have to figure out how to properly post a link.

ko, Aug 13, 06:58 AM #:

rgj is too conservative and politically correct. They change writers wording if it might offend a group and they are afraid to write about some of the local things that happen around here.

Example: Public never heard about players of a certain sport at a University that beat the C – - – out of person at a local bar (January) by the University. He ended up having his face reconstructed, due to being repeatedly kicked in the head. University police showed up but it was never found in the blotter. It didn’t happen on the campus, but if you look at the January 15 blotter, they responded to a call at the 7-11. The bar is closer to the University than 7-11. What’s up with no story? That was a dumb question! Shoot , what’s up with it not showing up in the blotter. Oh that was dumb too!

Ryan Jerz, Aug 13, 08:19 AM #:

ko,

That’s obviously a pretty big charge. Interesting that you were able to somehow work the UNRPD into that in the way you did. As far as the RGJ being afraid to piss people off, I call BS on that. Considering you’re charging that they won’t run a story about the university, you could have picked a much better example of an entity they’re afraid of pissing off. The RGJ has been running, non-stop, stories about the university that cast a very negative light. They have been the mouthpiece for a group of jackasses who like to file lawsuits. The RGJ has neglected to even approach the part of the story that has the jackasses (at least one of them) being very bad people, and instead has painted them as very sympathetic characters fighting a behemoth government operation. So I don’t buy that the RGJ is afraid of the university, its police, or whatever you’re insinuating there.

If you know more about the beating, email it to me (http://mrjerz.org/contact/) and I would love to look into it further. But if you just happened to hear about it from a UNRPD cop who happens to share your lawyer, save it.

Commenting is closed for this article.